What to do when Listening is Painful.

We are in a world surrounded by pain and uncertainty. Whether it’s politics or Mercury in Retrograde, there is always something that one would rather avoid or not hear. As a contemplative, NOW, when it is difficult and challenging, is exactly the time to pay attention and listen with the ear of our hearts.

Pain is noisy. We have an alarm in our new space at Pathways of Grace and when I forget to turn it off before I go in it makes such a horrible noise I find I am flustered and racing to turn it off. That is the way the pain in our world can come across. One may just want to yell STOP! Yet in that yelling all that is happening is more noise.

It is a deep spiritual practice to breathe into the pain and listen to the voices within before tuning out the noise that surrounds. Yet that is how the Still Small Voice is found. The Wisdom that lets one see through the pain to what is really going on; that allows one to walk into it rather than run from it.

This is not an act of will or something that is innately known. This is a conscious spiritual practice that needs to be learned. This is why Pathways of Grace has the tagline “A Space for Deep Listening.” Everything we do is about learning how to practice hearing that beautiful voice within.

If you would like to know more about practicing Deep Listening take a look at three opportunities:

In times where there is so much painful noise around us, as contemplatives we are called to head into it and be a place of peace and presence. This doesn’t mean that all circumstances will be well or things will turn out the way we expect or wish them to. It does mean that we will bring a sense that life is more than the pain and we do not need to react in panic. Rather, we get to respond in Love.